April 2011
The University of Hong Kong celebrated its Fifth Inauguration of Endowed Professorships on April 12, 2011.
At the ceremony, the Sin Wai-Kin Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the Humanities, a university-wide scheme in support of the appointment of distinguished visiting scholars in the humanities, was announced. Also announced at the Inauguration was the establishment of the Zhou Guangzhao Professorship in Natural Sciences. It is the first time that an Endowed Professorship has been named after an academic from the Chinese Mainland.
“We are proud that, since the first inauguration at 2005, we have 54 Endowed Professorships at the University. We aim to create 100 Endowed Professorships and I am grateful to the community for its support of the University’s goal,” said Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor of HKU.
To celebrate the impact of the Scheme on academic research and the community, a special limited edition commemorative booklet featuring donors of the Scheme and Endowed Professors was distributed at the Ceremony.
Endowed Professorships at HKU are created to provide perpetual support to areas of academic excellence. It is also a privileged honour bestowed upon our distinguished academics. With a close partnership between academe and generous philanthropists, Endowed Professorships represent a promise to scale new levels of commitment to society and to humankind.
Each Endowed Professorship is established with a generous donation of HK$10 million or more which is matched by the University with an equal amount. The interest generated from the $20 million endowment is used to support the respective area of academic excellence. A total of 54 Endowed Professorships, including 3 Distinguished Visiting Professorship Schemes, have been established since 2005.
Background information and photos of the Endowed Professors are available at http://www.hku.hk/ephku/.